Tings are collapsing in the final volume of The Book of Dust, the second of Philip Pullman's magisterial trilogies set in a universe that appears, now more than ever, as a charged and slanted version of our own. Establishments are weakening, or restructuring themselves along unfamiliar and disquieting lines. An unseen force "is wrecking the air and the seasons"; simultaneously, "wealth is decaying, and no one knows why". Control is flowing away from governments, and pooling in the chambers of theocrats, the treasuries of business empires, the grasp of crowds. "Something is at work, stealthily, gradually", says merchant a trader character, keeping a vigilant eye on the trade routes from his place in an Aleppo cafe. "Aspects we thought were stable and solid are faltering and failing."
Key Puzzle and Lyra's Journey
Exactly what that something might be, and methods to fight it, is the inquiry that propels The Rose Field, which resumes where the previous book left off. This is, according to many, Pullman's last venture into the intricately constructed, deeply captivating world he first revealed 30 years ago, with the publication of the first trilogy. It's a world whose landscape aligns with that of the real world, but whose past tacks and jibes with ours; where the individuals appear and think and act like us, but are paired by external spirits, beings in creature form; where the heavens are teeming with sorceresses and legendary creatures, but below, transports are ridden and tea is consumed, and middle-aged academics carry luxury shopping bags. Our heroine, whom we first encountered as a young girl in the first trilogy, and then saw again as a toddler in La Belle Sauvage, the introductory book with which Pullman began the series, is now a adult: still distinctly the prickly and determined heroine of the earlier books, but more mature, sadder, more cautious, less certain. This limitation is intensified by her split from her animal guide, Pantalaimon – but it was also, paradoxically, the cause which caused him to abandon her in the first place.
Interwoven Plots
His choice to go off in quest of that childlike part of the heroine which she appears to have shed (an quality which he symbolizes as her "creativity"), and her mission to reunite with him, were the driving forces of The Secret Commonwealth, which chronicled the protagonist undertake a adventurous journey across Europe and into the mountain region, facing with marvel and danger on the way. But from the start, profound shifts were in action, and sinister powers at work. The religious council – the religious ruling body, and the author's deliciously chilling incarnation of strict, bureaucratic wickedness – is under fresh command, and showing its strength. The antagonist – Lyra's uncle, who faults her for his family member's death – has positioned himself into the role of head of the Magisterium's governing body, and is determined on using his newfound influence to expand the church's control. Malcolm Polstead, who rescued young the heroine to safety along a overflowing river as an young boy in La Belle Sauvage, is now an academic with a additional duty in spycraft: he is sent to the city to discover more about his aims. And underlying all of this is the puzzle surrounding the rare and precious botanical extract which seems somehow to be the origin of a societal and financial crisis rippling out from Central Asia. The oil is seen by certain groups as a marketable product, by others as a scientific or spiritual phenomenon, and by further factions – the zealous "highland figures" – as a source of evil; an challenge that must be eradicated. The issue of its source, its meaning, and whether it should be removed or safeguarded is escalating in importance.
Like the original trilogy, Lyra's decisions, and her fate, are revealed to be inextricably connected with the future of the world
In The Secret Commonwealth, these plots ran broadly in parallel. In The Rose Field, they converge. Similar to the original series, Lyra's choices and her destiny are revealed to be deeply linked with the destiny of the universe. Her personal quest to reunite with her soul and rediscover her imagination becomes the key battleground in a wider battle with an controlling system which, as such regimes typically do, is seeking to suppress autonomy of thinking, innovation and art: all the inner, resistant ways in which people can be free.
Dimensional Rifts and Moral Battles
The book opens with the finding of a series of unusual fissures in the makeup of the planet's atmosphere: windows that appear to give on to alternate realities. An example of a portal appears to be the source of the fiercely disputed rose oil. The church, with Delamare at its leadership, designates these openings as a challenge to the religion's beliefs and sets out to eliminate them. As Lyra begins to shift from strict reason and return to feeling, however, her belief that these sites must be defended – that their significance and their value is mysteriously crucial – increases. "Dust, or rose oil, or the imagination, or the field of roses, or no matter what we call it," she says, "it is necessary." The stage for a Blakean struggle between innocence and knowledge is set.
Narrative Pacing and Personal Evolution
At a substantial length, The Rose Field|this volume|the
